By TARA COPP (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The two highest U.S. generals who supervised the evacuation of Afghanistan as it was taken over by the Taliban in August 2021 accused the Biden administration of the disorderly departure, telling lawmakers on Tuesday that it poorly prepared for the evacuation and did not initiate it in a timely manner.
The uncommon testimony by the two retired generals openly divulged for the first time the tension and disagreements the military leaders had with the Biden administration in the final days of the war. Two of those key differences included the military's recommendation to keep at least 2,500 service members in Afghanistan to maintain stability and a concern that the State Department was not moving fast enough to start the evacuation.
The comments were in contrast with an internal White House review of the administration's decisions which found that President Joe Biden's decisions had been “severely constrained” by previous withdrawal agreements negotiated by former President Donald Trump and blamed the military, saying top commanders said they had enough resources to handle the evacuation.
Thirteen U.S. service members lost their lives to a suicide bomber at the Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate in the final days of the war, as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Thousands of anxious Afghans and U.S. citizens made desperate attempts to board U.S. military flights that were transporting people out. In the end, the military managed to rescue more than 130,000 civilians before the final U.S. military aircraft departed.
That chaos was the end result of the State Department's failure to request an evacuation of U.S. personnel until it was too late, both former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and U.S. Central Command retired Gen. Frank McKenzie told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“On 14 August the non-combatant evacuation operation decision was made by the Department of State and the U.S. military alerted, marshalled, mobilized and rapidly deployed faster than any military in the world could ever do,” Milley said.
But the State Department’s decision came too late, Milley said.
“The fundamental mistake, the fundamental flaw was the timing of the State Department,” Milley said. “That was too slow and too late.”
Evacuation orders must come from the State Department, but in the weeks and months before Kabul fell to the Taliban, the Pentagon was pressing the State Department for evacuation plans, and was concerned that State was not ready, McKenzie said.
“We had forces in the region as early as 9 July, but we could do nothing,” McKenzie said, calling State’s timing “the fatal flaw that created what happened in August.”
“I believe the events of mid and late August 2021 were the direct result of delaying the initiation of the (evacuation) for several months, in fact until we were in extremis and the Taliban had overrun the country,” McKenzie said.
Milley was the nation’s top-ranking military officer at the time, and had urged President Joe Biden to keep a residual force of 2,500 forces there to give Afghanistan’s special forces enough back-up to keep the Taliban at bay and allow the U.S. military to hold on to Bagram Air Base, which could have provided the military additional options to respond to Taliban attacks.
Biden chose not to approve the larger remaining force, and instead decided to keep a smaller force of 650, which would only be responsible for protecting the U.S. embassy. This smaller force was not enough to keep control of Bagram, which was quickly taken over by the Taliban.
After the U.S. left, the Taliban took over Afghanistan, leading to significant changes for the people, including severe limitations on the rights of women and girls.
Last year, the White House discovered that the disorganized withdrawal happened because President Joe Biden was limited by agreements previously made by President Donald Trump to withdraw troops.
An internal review in 2023 seemed to shift the blame for the Aug. 26, 2021 suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport to the U.S. military, suggesting that a key decision may have been made by them.
The 2023 report mentioned that to handle the potential threat of a terrorist attack, the President repeatedly asked if the military needed extra support to carry out their mission at HKIA. The report also stated that senior military officials confirmed they had enough resources and authority to counteract threats.
Someone from the State Department did not immediately respond to a message left on Tuesday.
